Anderson, Maxwell. (1888 - 1959).
W o r k
- journalist, playwright, and screenwriter
- a fouding member of The Playwrights' Company (included at different times also Elmer Rice, Kurt Weill, & others)
- content: a striking variety of topics from both the past and the present
- form: rather conventional x but: revitalised the verse play
What Price Glory (1924):
- portrays an American soldier in the WW I
- avoids idealisation: tackles the soldier’s brutality and lust for brief pleasures when not in action
Elizabeth the Queen (1930) and Mary of Scotland (1933):
- prose historical plays
Both Your Houses (1933):
- a political play
- won him the Pulitzer Prize
Winterset (1935):
- his verse play masterpiece
- tackles a topical issue of the political trials sentencing people to death
Knickerbocker Holiday (1938):
- in collaboration with composer Kurt Weill
- a musical inspired by Washington Irving
- parodies American policies
Quote
"If you practice an art, be proud of it and make it proud of you… It may break your heart, but it will fill your heart before it breaks it; it will make you a person in your own right".
Maxwell Anderson in an interview (1959).
Basics
(Photo: Britannica).
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Author
(James) Maxwell Anderson. (1888 - 1959). American. -
Work
Plawright. Screenwriter. Author of Winterset (1935). -
Genres
Modern drama. Verse play. Political play. Historical play.
Literature
Baym, Nina, ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton, 1995.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. The Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Cunliffe, Marcus. The Literature of the United States. London: Penguin, 1991.
McQuade, Donald, gen.ed. The Harper American Literature. New York: Harper & Collins, 1996.
Ruland, Richard, Malcolm Bradbury. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997.
Vančura, Zdeněk, ed. Slovník spisovatelů: Spojené státy americké. Praha: Odeon, 1979.